I took a deep breath and set myself up for any response he thought would be wise to the most embarrassing fantasy of a 24-year-old.
“I wouldn't say it without a story, you're fine with that?” I threw him a brief glance, my cheeks betraying the details of what I wanted to reveal. He shrugged after his eyes peered at his watch for a few seconds.
“We still have time before the meeting and if it proves to be too long a tale, I'll make the meeting as brief as I can to come back for this juicy gossip.” He tweaked his tone to sound girly at his last two words, making sputter into giggles.
“All right.” I smiled, happy to finally get this detail off my chest. “My teenage years were capitalized with my head shoved in books while hours flew by. Most of those books were romance stories and a few mystery stories then in the later teenage years, I matured into sci-fi and comic books talking about superheroes and superpowers.” I paused as lots of memories flowed through my mind like pictures.
“I used to call books “handsome”.” I made an air-quote and burst into laughter when he made his eyebrows dance in surprise. “Don't be surprised. I never had a boyfriend throughout those years and here I was with books that painted worlds I'd rather be in. Instead of creating this wishful craving, I decided to kiss reality hard on the cheek and wed my books instead. Tough choice but what can I say?” I paused, to let him take in the details.
He cleared his throat and asked, “Why didn't you have at least one boyfriend? I mean, you're a gorgeous breed or did you have this massive glow up at 20?” His puzzled look was more hilarious than the question.
“Don't be ridiculous!” I joked, smacking him playfully on the chest. “I spent 12 out of my 24 hours answering to Audrey and my stepmother then the other 12, reading and going to school. I rarely had more than 5 minutes for a guy and teenage boys didn't want someone who would treat them like trash. And on the days that it wasn't up to 12 hours, I was in the library or upstairs in my room reading more stories. I don't blame anyone, I could have replaced my reading time with hanging out more with girls and guys in school but at that time, I felt story characters and finding out people's lives was much more fun than talking to a bunch of knuckleheads who wanted so desperately to check if my pussy was pink.”
Damien backed away dramatically as his face turned pink. “Why so raw?”
I cocked my head to the side, sizing him up with my eyes in the naughtiest way I could. “Isn't it the truth? How many well-meaning teenage boys are there in Rubenn?”
He shook his head. “Don't have such rotten views of teenagers. Many people find love from a very young age while most people like you are left single due to their seeming high standards.” His tone held a measure of disdain but I passed it off.
“I don't think all teenage boys are dogs looking for a girl or woman to hop on but I know that most of them are and to these most, it's a sign of masculinity and a game of numbers.” I argued in the sweetest voice. “Teenage me was smart enough not to be one of the girls a boy would use as a sign of his masculinity or strike off as “fucked”...” I let my voice trail as I watched the transformation on his face.
“Yes, you're right. I see your point now. It's easy to get defensive when people generalize but the truth is, the numbers on the negative are much more and that'll mean you'll meet more negatives than positives. But I wouldn't accept totally that avoidance is key. Experiencing such helps you pick the bad from the good.”
“You talk like you're from a different planet. This is Earth, this is the world, this is Rubenn! Experiences color your discernment instead of sharpening it. You're more alert and pick the tiniest signals, most times you interpret it wrongly. Also, it'll need more than experiences because humans wear thick cloaks that give you the ideal person you want until you peek deeper.” My eyes were fiery and my voice held some measure of vigor that made him swallow.
“You talk rather intensely but I'll still stand by my opinion. It's purely unwise to sum up humans after only a few trials. There are lots of bad eggs and lots of good eggs.” His smile was firm and we both placed our faces on the window, blowing out breaths.
“Hey.” He called, softly when I wouldn't look at him. “Don't be sour.”
“I'm not.” I snapped, forcing him to sit back. “I'm sorry. I'm embarrassed because I was supposed to be painting a scenario not starting an argument.” My voice was mellow and my eyes downcast in guilt.
“You shouldn't be.” He spoke as his fingers lifted my chin up and he cupped it. “I had asked you a question and you were giving your known answer to it. I wasn't supposed to raise an opposing response or make you seem stupid.” He asserted in an apologetic stance and I felt even more guilty. I was supposed to take the fall but I bobbed my head reluctantly.
“So, get on with your tale.” He relaxed into the seat with our fingers interlocked. He was one guy who loved physical contact and I was starting to adjust. “You didn't have a boyfriend and what next happened?”
I chuckled, reaching for the tip of his nose. “In contrast, Aud loved having boys in her life and never one at one time. She dated several boys and fucked their cousins and friend's friends.” I bobbed my head to add emphasis when he wouldn't close his mouth. “That made me meet different guys and have lots of them wanting to go out with me but I refused them after getting them to choose between a fancy dinner and a fun day at an amusement park and they'd always pick the former.”
He leaned in, “Why did you want an amusement park? There are a lot of fun things like a movie date, concert date, sports date, board games date… you name it.”
“I was a little selfish. I wanted lots of fun instead of talking or deep emotional connection. Such kind of intimacy sent me into a panic.” I paused and searched his face for the slightest hint of disapproval but none existed.
“Here's the scenario. He picks me up on a bike and drives me deep into the city while I lean into him. We get on the swing and talk as it goes slowly, we get on different rides and laugh over silly jokes then we round it up with karaoke and dramatic dancing.” I passed him a glance as I tried to cover my red, hot cheeks.
“That's going to be fun. Do you still want to try that out?”
I gasped in shock then threw my arms around his neck, pulling him in tightly. When we broke off the hug, I nodded my head with a loud, “YES!”